CRM 4 DevJam in Oz!

OK, so since my last post on my new costume for the CRM 4 DevJam, I’ve had a bunch of emails asking:

1. What is the CRM 4 DevJam?

2. Who is running it?

3. Where is it being run?

4. What’s the format?

5. What’s the cost?

All great questions.

The CRM 4 DevJam is just an idea I came up with to help get developers trained on Microsoft CRM 4.

The idea is that it is run by the local user groups, with content and VPC’s provided by Microsoft.

My hope was that it would be run everywhere in Oz, but it really depends on local state support from the community, to actually facilitate the days.

The format I thought was really basic, to make sure the barrier to running it was low. So I thought, what if it was BYO laptop, with hard drives and wireless storage servers setup with the VPC on them, so folks could get in early and copy the stuff down (it’s also already available on the web). Then, it would be a set of hands on lab sessions on how to develop on CRM 4. The training content is already baked and tested for extra flavor, so need to stress about that.

Finally, the goal would be to keep the cost low. With some clever thinking, I reckon the event could be run free, if we leverage the local user groups (.NET, SharePoint, CRM, whichever) and their local Microsoft office folks.

Now, this is where the rubber meets the road. I live in Melbourne, so getting my community peeps together is a cinch. Most of my .NET and Dynamics mafia live in Sydney, so getting that cranking is also easy. My challenge is QLD, ACT, WA (I’m already watching my Inbox Brian!), SA and TAS.

So what I need to know is, who can I reach out to in states other than VIC and NSW to help get a CRM 4 DevJam going? And what are folks thoughts about the way to get these going?